


a hymn of oops (the confession of hope andrea mikaelson)

by sparklingsparkysparkles



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Established Hosie, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Handon brotp, History nerd!Landon, Hope is so done with Rebekah's romance drama, Hosie, Kol & Rebekah shenanigans, Kol and his baseball bat, Lanzzie if you squint, Pardon all the nerdiness this was written by a nerd, Pretty much half fluff half crack, Seriously am I the only who still ships Stebekah?, Side Stebekah bc I love them, Star Wars nerd!Lizzie, The Author Regrets Everything, What's an angst?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26304565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklingsparkysparkles/pseuds/sparklingsparkysparkles
Summary: Hope decides to cheat on a test and it backfires big time. Now, she is locked in a battle of wits with her damned professor, all the while trying to set up the perfect six-month anniversary for Josie.The Hosie College AU that got way out of hand.Inspired by that Buzzfeed video.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Landon Kirby/Lizzie Saltzman, Rebekah Mikaelson/Stefan Salvatore
Comments: 12
Kudos: 49





	1. chicanery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crystals__99](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystals__99/gifts).



> This story is dedicated to the amazing crystals_99, who inspired me to start writing again and has helped and encouraged me so much since.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope makes a poor decision in a momentary lapse of judgment.

Hope felt a tinge of guilt for ditching family dinner.

But in her defense, she could only hear the latest chapter of her aunt Rebekah's love life for so long before going crazy.

"-still an asshole, of course. But, I don't know, something is different with him. I feel like Alexander actually wants to get back together-"

To start off, there was Alexander, Rebekah's douchebag for an ex-fiancé and now-occasional fling. Their engagement proved brief when Alexander challenged Hope's dad to a drunken duel at the party that evening. He would have taken his head off too, if not for her uncle Kol and his trusty baseball bat.

Apparently, Kol had found out that Alexander was cheating on Rebekah. He planned to get Alexander alone after the party and "make the fuckface regret the day he crawled out of his mother's womb," as he so eloquently put it. A brawl broke out between Rebekah's and Alexander's many brothers, and the engagement party ended with an ambulance ride for its attendants.

From what Hope gathered, it was a pretty concise summary of their entire relationship.

"-oh, but Matt. He smiled at me other day and offered to walk me home. He even put his jacket on me even though I told him I wasn't cold! Maybe he finally likes me back-"

Then there was Matt. A high school quarterback turned barkeep at the Rousseau's, who then took over when the old owner retired. Rebekah had been crushing on Matt for as long as Hope could remember, and Kol took great pleasure in mocking them both for it, challenging Matt to an arm wrestle every time they met. She supposed it must be the small acts of kindness that endeared him to Rebekah. Her aunt was, after all, partial to affection of any kind.

Hope liked Matt, but she wished Rebekah would just get over him. He was warm and generous to everyone he met, and it was plain clear that he simply wasn't into her.

"-I just don't get him. One minute he's hot and passionate and looks at me like he wants me, and the next he's cold and distant and smooching with that witch Sofya again-"

And don't even get her started on Marcel. Her aunt dearest had been locked in this intense love triangle with him and her mortal enemy Sofya even before her infatuation with Matt began. Just thinking about all the times she'd heard Rebekah gush about Marcel like a teenage girl or cry her eyes out because of him made Hope want to rub her temple, a headache setting in.

"-he's just the sweetest thing ever. I swear I felt fireworks when we kissed. I think he might be the one-"

Of course, how could she forget about Rebekah's latest object of fascination? Rebekah would not shut up about this guy with a baby face because apparently her aunt was into that now. Hope ran a thumb across her forehead and tried to remember his name. Steve? Frank? Alfonso?

"-honestly, I haven't felt about anyone the way Stefan makes me feel in a long time-"

God, she could not do this right now. Her connecting flight from Atlanta got held up by the hurricane and she didn't touch down until the small hours. Then the idiots at the airport lost her suitcase, and she had to wait for what felt like a lifetime with sore legs, heavy eyelids, and a pounding headache while the clueless worker tried to get ahold of his boss, because it was well after midnight and nobody in their mind picked up their damned phone at such an ungodly hour.

It was so stupid. Hope didn't even want to bring a suitcase. She'd comfortably fitted her stuff - which was no more than a change of clothes for three nights, a jacket, a book to read, and snacks for the flights - into her backpack and duffel bag. Unlike her girlfriend's sister, Hope was a normal human being who _definitely_ did not need to pack six large suitcases for a single weekend.

Then her said girlfriend saw the hurricane forecast and insisted that she pack some warmer clothes just in case, including, rather bizarrely, a pair of snow boots. Hope thought Josie was worrying too much - it was April, for God's sake. Not that she didn't appreciate Josie's worrying. On the contrary, it was one of the many things that she loved about the brunette.

Josie had the biggest heart she had ever seen. She was a kind and compassionate soul, always taking care of other people, and never asking for anything in return. Josie was selfish to the detriment of herself, putting her own needs last to keep other people happy, and it was something they'd been working on.

Hope wished Josie would put herself first for once, and did what made her, rather than anyone else *cough*Lizzie*cough*, happy. Almost six months into their relationship, Hope was overjoyed that Josie finally started standing up for herself.

Even now, Hope was amazed by how Josie had become so important to her in so little time.

"-the band was playing jazz and we slow danced and everything. It was such a magical evening. God, it reminded me of the night I lost my virginity-"

Hope squeezed her eyes shut.

_Okay, Auntie Bex, too much fucking information._

Hope loved Rebekah. She really did. But her aunt was a gossipy person and Hope disliked gossip. To the extreme. It was unfortunate for her whenever Rebekah decided she simply _must_ tell the story of how their neighbors across the street invited the entire block to an orgy, and got busted by the police because of a noise complaint with excruciating detail.

Hope still remembered the horrified shudder that overcame their friendly neighborhood patrolman Will when she asked him about it. In the end, Will shook his head and told her to never bring it up again in an almost pleading voice.

Hope rubbed her temple. The dull ache behind her skull was now full-on pounding her head. By the time the luggage fiasco was resolved and she got home that morning, the sun was already up. Hope dragged her suitcase up their inhumanly many stairs into her room with heavy limbs and collapsed on her bed, passing out instantly.

Two full hours of sleep later, and overly-excited Kol dragged her out of bed and demanded she played baseball with him.

It wasn't just fatigue from the flights and sleep deprivation. It was the end of April and finals were just around the corner - her first one was on Monday, in fact. It was a history exam and Hope was confident she would do well. After all, history was her favorite subject. Math, on the other hand...

Hope felt her headache worsen.

She needed to ace the history exam to give her GPA a boost, get through the other finals without incident, then try her best not to fuck up math. Lucky for Hope, her math final wasn't for two more weeks. That should give her enough time to get ready.

_Should._

"-the things Stefan can do with his fingers, God-"

Hope balled her hand into a fist, her dinner all but forgotten. She was tired and stressed and still getting used to the idea of being back home without her parents and if she had to listen to Rebekah talk about how dreamy Stefan's eyes were one more time she swore to all things holy-

"-those green eyes are just _so_ dreamy-"

_That fucking does it._

Hope shot up from her seat brusquely and announced she was calling it a night, half-heartedly muttering something about still being tired from yesterday.

The three other people at the table barely paid her any attention.

Kol made a snark comment about Rebekah's love life. That, predictably, drew her aunt's ire. Rebekah threatened to fling Kol's beloved baseball bat into the Gulf of Mexico, and Kol gasped dramatically. Freya, going above and beyond to play the role of the big sister, shot a glare at Kol, who unsurprisingly returned a smirk, and shared her wisdom, which was apparently inherent in oldest siblings, with an eager Rebekah.

Hope rubbed her temple harder.

_So this is why Finn always spends the holidays with Sage's family._

* * *

The first thing Hope did after making her grand escape from dinner was, of course, to call Josie.

"Hey, babe."

Hearing her girlfriend's voice brought a smile to Hope's face.

"Hey, Jo."

"How's home?"

"Just how I left it. To absolutely nobody's surprise, my aunt Rebekah has yet another suitor."

"Does she?"

The memory alone made Hope groan.

"She wouldn't shut up about him at dinner! I had to listen to her go on and on about how green his eyes are and how adorable his smile is for three hours. Three hours!"

Josie let out that crispy laugh that Hope loved so much.

"Another chapter in the world's longest-running saga then?"

Hope shrugged, then felt like an idiot when she remembered that it was a phone call and Josie couldn't see her.

"Apparently, this might be the one."

"Oh?"

"Then again, I've heard that one before. Quite a few times."

Josie chuckled.

"Sounds like someone's having fun."

" _So_ much fun."

Emphasis for sarcasm.

"I miss you."

The words left her mouth of their own accord, and Hope could tell that Josie was surprised by a small noise from the other end of the line.

"It's only been a day since we last saw each other!"

"And that's a day too long."

Hope supposed she ought to feel embarrassed by how needy she sounded, but she could care less. She was hopelessly (ironic) in love with Josie and she missed her. She missed her even though the brunette had walked her to the bus stop yesterday afternoon, and stayed with her until the bus came. Josie kissed her goodbye gently and waved at her with a sweet smile until the bus was out of sight.

Hope touched her bottom lip absent-mindedly, remember the feeling of those soft pink lips on hers. That brought a smile to her face just as Josie spoke again.

"Aww, I miss you too, babe. And we'll see each other again in two days."

Right. Two days. She could do this. She just had to get through another day at home, then be on her merry way to the airport Monday morning. Then Tuesday-

Hope grinned widely. Tuesday would be their six-month anniversary. God, had it really been six months already? She felt like it was only yesterday when she met Josie. But on the other hand, she also felt like she'd known Josie her whole life.

It made no sense at all. But matters of the heart scarcely did.

"I can't wait until we are together again."

Hope could imagine it. She couldn't see Josie on the other end of the phone, obviously, but she could imagine the way red crept up her girlfriend's cheeks while she ducked her head and batted those darling lashes of hers so bashfully.

That blush drove her insane.

"Me neither."

"So, what are you up to?"

"Trying to get through this bio paper before bed." The sound of shuffling, "Lizzie is off doing God knows what, probably geeking out with Landon and MG again, so thankfully, I get a little peace and quiet tonight."

Hope was not planning on falling in love when she came to Whitmore. She was planning on keeping her head down and focusing on college, maybe make a few friends. Her plan was for a change of environment so she could try to move on from her parents' death. Words like love and romance and relationship did not feature at all.

But then she met Josie, and her plan went out of the window faster than Jon Snow can say I don't want it.

So it was no surprise to Hope that she forgot all about turning in early that night and stayed up until two talking to Josie. She would have kept their conversation going, but eventually exhaustion overcame her and Josie told her to get some sleep with a quiet chuckle after one too many stifled yawn.

She bid Josie goodnight and closed her eyes, thinking that she only had to wait another day before seeing her again.

And when Hope dreamed that night, she dreamed of the day she met Josie.

* * *

_Hope looked around her and wondered how she'd gotten herself into this._

_Actually, she knew exactly how._

_It all started on her orientation day. Whitmore was sleepy, if not a little secluded, the campus mostly being vast amounts of green space. According to their enthusiastic guide, squirrel sightings were frequent and bunnies were known to wander around the accommodation buildings._

_Milton whispered to them conspiratorially that some freshmen from a few years ago swore they saw a werewolf in lurking the woods during a particularly intoxicated night out. Whitmore's ghost hunting society had taken to running around campus chanting exorcism spells at passerby ever since._

_She met Landon during orientation. Hope was a New Orleans girl through and through, and she had always assumed she would go to a university close to home. Having received offers from three different universities in Louisiana, the thought of leaving never even crossed her mind._

_Then came the accident._

_Hope's world fell apart when her parents died, and suddenly the idea of staying home became unbearable to her, not with her parents gone. When a brochure came from Whitmore, Hope called the admissions office on a whim. A month later, Kol was driving her up to Virginia._

_She came to Whitmore because she was running, and as it turned out, so was Landon. Landon had never set foot outside the home of Clark Kent in his life. That was until his mother died, and he had a bad falling out with his brother._

_Sensing a kindred spirit, Hope and Landon clung onto each other._

_That led her here, standing behind their table at societies' fair rather awkwardly. Landon was her first friend at Whitmore - her only friend, really. Her roommate was a quiet girl who never wore anything other than a black death to barbie T-shirt with a pierced skull print. She glared daggers at Hope every time she so much as looked at her._

_Landon was also a history nerd utterly obsessed with all things antiquity and medieval. Hope could understand that - somewhat. She loved history herself but nowhere near Landon's degree. Landon, of course, was hellbent on starting a medieval swordplay society, and the student union's societies officer somehow approved his request._

_With the benefit of hindsight, it wasn't the slightest surprising that Landon roped her into helping him set up the society. So far, they were the only members, which meant she and Landon had to hold down the fort at the fair all day._

_The only people who'd stopped by at the table as of yet were two stoned freshmen, a senior recruiting for her expedition to find Whitmore's elusive werewolf, and the vice president of the Flat Earth Society, who spent the last thirty minutes arguing with Landon over whether the moon landings were fake._

_Hope rubbed her eyes, wishing she had just stayed in bed that morning._

_"Medieval swordplay? Ooooooh, that's cool!" An excited voice broke Hope out of her musings, and she looked up to find a blonde girl with a purple lightsaber slung over her shoulder, firing off words at Landon rapidly, "I'm more of a Star Wars person myself, as you can see..."_

_The blonde's voice trailed off as Hope's eyes moved to her companion. When she did, she almost gasped._

_Standing beside the chipper blonde was a tall brunette. Wavy brown hair rested just below her shoulder, soft and inviting. As brown as her locks were her eyes, big and bright and utterly encaptivating. Hope's eyes trailed from the tall brunette's pretty curls to her warm orbs to a pair of pouty pink lips and-_

_Hope sucked in a shaky breath, faintly aware that she was about to start hyperventilating._

_"Hi," Those soft pink lips were moving but the words barely registered in Hope's brain. She was too busy trying to keep her eyes off the pretty brunette's long legs, of which those shorts were showing an ample amount. All Hope could focus on was skin. Skin that was soft and creamy and just so damn tempting and God, Hope wasn't sure if those shorts should be damned or apotheosized. "I'm Josie."_

_Josie, Hope thought, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl._

_"Umm- Thank you."_

_Hope blinked. Did she just say that aloud?_

_Judging by the flustered blush on Josie's cheeks and how she was looking at anywhere other than Hope, she was going to take it as a yes._

_Leave it to Hope Mikaelson to make a complete fool of herself in front of the most beautiful girl she'd ever met._

_But then Josie looked at her with those big brown eyes and batted her lashes so bashfully and-_

_-and Hope knew that her life would never be the same again._

* * *

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!"

Once again, Hope's uncle Kol dragged her out of bed at an ungodly hour.

She glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside and groaned, putting a pillow over her head to shield her eyes from the sunlight.

"Leave me alone," She muttered sleepily.

Kol ripped the pillow out of her grasp without mercy, and Hope contemplated digging out a pencil from her art supplies and John Wicking her uncle.

"Come on now, love, we are meeting Vincent for breakfast at eight, remember?" Kol said way too happily this early in the morning, "You have less than an hour to get ready!"

Of course, how did she forget that? Hope yawned, realizing she must be more tired than she thought. She considered murdering Kol anyway and going back to sleep, but she hadn't seen Vincent since going off to Whitmore more than half a year ago. Given that Vincent was about to kick off his gubernatorial campaign, Hope had no idea when she'd see him next if she ditched breakfast today.

With a heavy sigh and even greater reluctance, Hope decided she was not murdering Kol on this fine morning. But that didn't mean she was getting out of bed right away. She glanced at her alarm clock again. It was only a quarter past seven and she could totally sleep five more minutes.

* * *

Hope didn't sleep five more minutes.

She slept until five minutes before they were supposed to leave, literally dragged out of bed by a screaming Rebekah. Kol snickered and Freya just rolled her eyes.

Hope fucking loved her family.

* * *

Hope fucking hated her family.

The breakfast had gone well. It was good to see Vincent again, and absolutely fascinating to hear him recount how he begged, bullied, bribed, shamed, and in the end, swayed the state legislature into funding his Bayou wildlife conservation program in the annual budget. Hope supposed being friends with so many nerds was rubbing off on her.

Hours flew by and they decided they might as well have lunch too. Vincent was confident about his gubernatorial prospects, talking about small-dollar donations and pollings and how he just might clear the field. In the end, Hope saw him off with a warm embrace and a solemn promise to vote for him next October - and November too, should it go to a run-off.

Hope went off on her own then - her six-month anniversary was in two days, and she had arrangements to make. When she was done, she joined her family at the market, and tried to simply enjoy being back home without thinking about her parents' deaths.

And she _was_ enjoying herself. Was being the operative word here, because Kol, being the idiot he was, decided they simply _must_ go bowling. Rebekah was quick to agree and the two of them dragged a reluctant Hope and Freya to the bowling house.

Kol swore they would only play two games before going home. He and Rebekah were one apiece and that sparked Freya's competitive spirit - yet another eldest sibling thing, apparently. Freya demanded another game, and won in turn, but Kol wasn't too happy about that, saying something about wanting to have the last laugh. So they played another round, and another, until the three siblings were five apiece and ready to call it a day.

Hope supposed it was _kinda_ her fault that they didn't.

She was yet to win a single round and the idea of going home whitewashed did not sit well with her at all. She demanded that they keep playing until she had a win to her name, and so they played and played. It wasn't until the 25th round that she finally won and they left the bowling house.

Hope had a sneaking suspicion that her uncle and aunts let her win just so they could get out of there.

Oh well, technicalities.

It was late when they left the bowling house - well after when they had planned on going home - and they figured they should eat out for dinner, since it was Hope's last night. As they made that decision unanimously, Hope supposed she had to take at least some blame in that.

Anyhow, they dined at a fancy French place, finished a bottle of wine, and shared more jokes than Hope could count. It was a good time.

Then they heard that Gia - the best violinist in the French Quarter and a protege of sorts of her late uncle Elijah - was performing that evening. They agreed they should go her perform, once again, unanimously, so Hope had to share some blame in that too.

Gia was marvelous as always, and Hope found herself entranced by the ebb and flow of her tune and how the bow moved against the strings so seamlessly even though she didn't know the first thing about music.

It was well worth it, and when Kol proposed that they take the scenic route home, Hope was feeling too light to object.

She should have though. Because by the time they finally got home, it was close to midnight.

Hope scowled at herself. Her flight to Dulles was at seven in the morning, and she had to be up at least two hours before that. She was supposed to be in bed already, but she hadn't even started packing yet.

With a quick goodnight text to Josie, Hope plucked the Bobby Kennedy biography that she'd been meaning to take on forever from her shelf and started gathering her things. Luckily, the hurricane suddenly turned east on Friday, and Louisiana was barely affected, so her suitcase remained unopened.

Florida, on the other hand, was less fortunate. But well, it was Florida.

Hope shoved her jacket into her duffle bag and looked for her sketchbook. She found it on her desk, open to a sketch of Josie, of course. Hope had lost count of how many times she had sketched Josie since meeting the brunette. She just couldn't help it. Josie was the epitome of beauty with soft curls and warm eyes and pouty lips, the face of an angel.

Thinking about her girlfriend made Hope smile, but she quickly pushed those thoughts aside. She would have plenty of time to think about Josie later. Right now, she had to pack her things.

Hope was doing a final scan of her room when she saw it. It was a book - an extremely detailed and thoroughly enjoyable analysis of how wealth and conquest corrupted the Roman Republic, and ultimately proved its undoing, to be exact.

Hope loved that book. But the problem? It was her history textbook. Her history final was tomorrow and she was supposed to do some revision over the weekend. Except she hadn't done any because the bus to Dulles was too cramped and she napped on her flight to Atlanta and she was too irritated to do any work on her belated connecting flight and then the idiots at the airport lost her suitcase and she was bone tired and fucking Kol wouldn't let her sleep and she spent the whole weekend with her family and-

Hope put a stop to that train of thought.

_Okay, I can do this. History is my best subject anyway. I can just do some revision on the plane tomorrow and grab Landon for a quick study session at lunch._

Hope closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to three.

Looking back, Hope wasn't sure what led her to that conclusion. Whether she was simply too tired or stressed or worried that the hurricane might take another turn the next day and leave her stranded in New Orleans, or worse, at the airport in Atlanta again, frantically looking for another connecting flight to Dulles after her old one was canceled.

But in the end, the why didn't matter, only the what did.

_Fuck, I can't do this._

Hope her eyes snapped open and she made a split-second decision.

_I'm not taking that fucking exam tomorrow._

An idea quickly took shape in her mind and Hope sprung into action. She fired up her laptop, loaded up Outlook, and opened up an email. Then, she took a deep breath and typed.

_Hi Dorian_

_I'm visiting my family in New Orleans this weekend, and I'm writing to let you know that my flight back to Dulles has just been canceled due to the weather. Therefore, I will not be able to make it to the exam Monday afternoon. Can we please arrange a makeup exam for me later in the week?_

_Thanks_

_Hope_

Hope put away her laptop and sighed in relief. It was a slamdunk. She'd get a few extra days to prepare for the exam and take it in her own time, ace it and give her GPA a welcome boost. Besides, her flight might just get canceled for real thanks to the unpredictability of the hurricane.

What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just believe I just wrote this. Oh well, guess I'm in too deep now. God, I love TVD and I love Hosie.
> 
> This story is inspired by that Buzzfeed video. If you guys haven't seen it, here's the link:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bQf9URnIAY&t=94s
> 
> I hope you guys have enjoyed this story! Please subscribe, leave a kudo and comment to let me know what you think, your support means the world to me.
> 
> Please check out my other Hosie fic if you guys haven't already. For you wonderful people who read the die is cast, I'm working on the next update but progress has been slow and I'm not sure when it'll be ready yet, but I'll try to get it out before too long.
> 
> Thank you for reading and until next time!


	2. contrition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope's mistake comes back to bite her.

_Like many others, Josie was drawn to Whitmore's biology department, headed by the distinguished Dr. Meredith Fell._

_She wasn't sure if she wanted to go into research or medicine just yet, but Hope had a feeling that she'd excel at either._

_They struck up a conversation while her sister was geeking out with Landon, and the hours flew by like clockwork. By the time Hope came out of their little bubble, people were packing up their tables all around them._

_The day had gone by, and suddenly Hope was delighted that she hadn't slept in that morning. Landon and Lizzie decided to go into Mystic Falls - a charming little town a half-hour bus ride from campus - and catch the Star Wars convention. Lizzie said something about having an oversized Chewbacca costume that he could borrow and Landon looked excited._

_Hope couldn't blame him._

_As she watched Landon head off with his new BFF, chatting animatedly about the Secret Wars teaser and Tom Holland's final outing as Spider-Man, the realization hit her._

_She was now left with Josie._

_Alone._

_Hope gulped. Something about the idea of being alone with Josie terrified her. She wasn't sure what, but if she had to guess, she'd wager it was how those brown orbs shone - not burning like wild flames, passionate but unpredictable, and ultimately dangerous. Josie's eyes were glowing, warm yet gentle, like the safety of a hearth - like home, a safe harbor from storms and a sanctuary from danger._

_Feeling that way about someone she'd just met was terrifying._

_But it was even more thrilling._

_And so when Josie batted those delicate lashes at her so damn bashfully, a rosy pink tinging her cheeks, and parted those supple, pouty lips, Hope knew that she would agree to whatever words that left them._

_"Do you-"_

_"Yes."_

_Josie looked taken aback, and when she blinked and scrunched her brows together, Hope felt a smile nudging at the corners of her mouth. She pushed it down with considerable difficulty._

_"But you don't even know what I was going to say!"_

_"Are you going to ask me to stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody?"_

_"What? No! Of course not." Josie exclaimed, appalled._

_"Then I'm sure I'll say yes to whatever it is if it means getting to spend more time with you." Hope shrugged unashamedly and took secret delight in the way Josie blushed and ducked her head, hiding her face behind a sheet of soft brown curls. "But ask anyway if it's going to make you feel better."_

_"Oh well," Josie cleared her throat as if she was psyching herself up for what she was about to say, "I was thinking, now that my sister has left me for your best friend, I could use someone to keep me company tonight."_

_Josie's voice was slightly too high to be normal, and her eyes were darting around the room, looking everywhere but the auburn-haired girl across her. Josie was nervous because of her. This beautiful and brilliant girl was all jittery and flustered because of her. Hope wanted to smirk, but then-_

_-but then Josie blinked and she was batting those long dark lashes at her and looking at her with those big brown eyes and smiling at her with those soft pink lips and Hope was a fucking goner._

_The auburn-haired girl sucked in a shuddering breath, a cluster of butterflies dancing up a hurricane in her stomach. She knew that Josie only meant it in a friendly way, but the mere act of her batting her lashes sent Hope's heart into a rapid succession of somersaults and suddenly the walls of her thorax closed in on her airway and she couldn't breath and she was gasping and she felt heat rushing to her cheeks and she could feel her pulse pounding in her ears and she began gasping even harder and she was full-on hyperventilating because a pretty girl batted her lashes at her._

_"You okay, Hope?" Josie stepped closer to her, her voice tinged with worry but her eyes glinting in knowing amusement. Breathing became even more difficult and Hope's brain was too sluggish to decide if she should say she's good or she's great._

_Hope went with good, but her brain decided she ought to say she's great just to make it that tiny bit more convincing halfway through the syllable. She ended up making a noise that vaguely resembled a large dog trying to expel a piece of meat that it had swallowed wrong from its esophagus._

_Hope decided Clown would make a far more fitting middle name for her than Andrea._

_Luckily, Josie seemed more endeared than anything else. She put a hand over her mouth and another on Hope's arm - the bare skin of Hope's arm and chuckled._

_A not-altogether-unpleasant shiver traveled through Hope, and the auburn-haired girl didn't need to look to know that goosebumps had risen all over her arms. She didn't think it was possible for the heat on her cheeks to burn even more furiously. Then again, she didn't think it was possible for Game of Thrones to be associated with bad writing either._

_"Don't mock me. Can't be helped, you know," Hope muttered a weak protest, "A gorgeous girl just batted her lashes at me."_

_It was Josie's turn to blush now._

_Seeing the red on her cheeks and a vivid reminder of the power she held over this very lovely, very beautiful girl regained Hope her brain functions somewhat, and suddenly she could form a coherent sentence again._

_"Well," Hope drawled, not bothering to fight her smile this time, "I do believe it would be rather unchivalrous of me if I were to not offer you my companionship for this fine evening."_

_Shockingly, Hope managed not to make a fool of herself in front of Josie again for the rest of the evening. They decided to head into town as well and have dinner at the Grill. They got their peanut butter milkshakes to go and took a walk around Mystic Falls without rush, talking about everything and nothing._

_It was perfect._

_Hope walked Josie to her building and they parted ways at Josie's door. Hope stood outside Josie's room for a minute and thought about the day she'd just had with the brunette, still dazed. She was snapped out of her thoughts when the door opened again and Josie darted back out._

_She scribbled down her number on Hope's arm along with a heart doodle and told the auburn-haired girl to call her, batting her lashes shyly._

_They say you are supposed to wait three days before calling someone to not come off as desperate._

_Hope lasted all twenty minutes._

* * *

Hope's weekend home ended how it began - waken up by Kol at an ungodly hour. This time though, her three-year-old for an uncle blew a vuvuzela into her ear.

Hope flew out of bed screaming bloody murder.

Kol laughed and high-fived Rebekah.

_One day, I'll kill them both._

Breakfast was a quick affair. Hope stuffed a beignet into her mouth and chugged a mug of coffee to wash it down. Then she swiped another beignet, quickly hugged her aunts goodbye, and was out of the door.

Kol had already loaded all her stuff into his car, and Hope was about to thank him when he told her shotgun was for Becky - yes, her incredibly mature and definitely-an-adult uncle named his baseball bat Becky just to annoy her aunt. So Hope opted to roll her eyes and toss his bat to the backseat instead, drawing an indignant protest from Kol.

Hope promptly ignored it and told him to drive. Half an hour later, he was hugging her goodbye outside Louis Armstrong, and Hope was holding onto him tightly. As much as Kol annoyed her, he was family, and she didn't have that many anymore.

While she was asleep, Hurricane Angela decided it'd terrorized the good people of Florida enough, and swung back west. Lucky for Hope, coastal Louisiana would not feel the impact for another couple hours, and her plane took off without delay.

She slept through most of the flight and had another cup of coffee when she woke up. By the time they touched down, Hope was feeling refreshed. Her second layover at Atlanta this weekend went without a hitch, and Hope plopped onto a seat by her boarding gate with just under two hours to spare.

She texted Josie for a few minutes before her girlfriend announced she had to get back to revision with a sad emoji. Hope figured she might as well do some revising of her own and opened up OneNote. The nap had done much to reinvigorate her, and Hope skimmed through her history notes with a sharp mind. An hour later, Hope decided she had been worrying over nothing last night and that she could ace this exam in her sleep.

It turned out that last night-Hope's little scheme hadn't been necessary at all. Hope felt slightly irritated with her past self, but figured there was little point.

The die is cast, the Rubicon is crossed, the email is sent, and nothing can be done about it now.

Besides, Hurricane Angela could yet make another sudden turn and force Delta to cancel her flight to Dulles for real, so Hope shrugged and moved on to art history.

Fifteen minutes later, her flight began boarding.

Another hour and a half later, her plane touched down at Dulles. Hope glanced at her watch. It was just shy of two, leaving her enough time to make it to her history exam.

She was now officially a perjurer.

Hope pondered her options. She could probably send Dorian another email saying she'd looked up the wrong flight or the airline had made a mistake, but wouldn't that look a little suspicious? Dorian was a smart guy - he was a college professor, after all, and he could probably sense that something was fishy if she sent him two completely contradictory emails so close to one another. A small part of her knew she was being paranoid, but Hope couldn't help it. She was a nervous liar.

Besides, the hurricane _was_ quite severe and Hope recalled Louis Armstrong's big screen displaying a litany of cancelleds that morning, so there was a good chance that Dorian would accept her last email at face value.

_If it ain't broken, don't fix it, right?_

Having made up her mind, Hope shot a quick text to Josie that she had landed. Josie replied with twenty heart emojis almost instantly. Hope smiled, feeling nothing but adoration for this amazing girl who she was lucky enough to call her girlfriend. The fact that she hadn't yet received a reply from Dorian barely registered.

In hindsight, Hope realized it was ironic that her first big mistake was sending an email, and her second big mistake was not sending one.

A sandwich and a bus ride later, Hope was dropping off her bags and on her way to see her girlfriend. She was a little tired from the journey, but luckily Josie's building was only a few minutes' walk away.

Hope stopped at Josie's room in Forbes Hall and knocked. A moment later, the door opened and the blonde Saltzman twin poked her head out.

"Password?"

"Umm, open sesame?"

"Nope."

"Alohomora?"

"Niet."

"Hail Hydra?"

"Nein."

Hope sighed, accepting her fate.

"With great height comes great res-"

"It's Hosie," Josie's voice came from the other side of the door, and Hope could somehow hear the roll of her eyes, "Now let my girlfriend through."

Lizzie muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "whatever," and Hope took the opportunity to squeeze herself through the gap between the blonde and the doorframe, ducking under Lizzie's arm in the process. Once inside, Hope wasted no time marching up to Josie and crushing their lips together.

Lizzie made an exaggerated gagging sound on the other side of the room, and Hope responded by pulling Josie flush against her and maneuvering them onto her bed, all the while keeping their lips locked.

She pulled Josie's bottom lip between her teeth and the brunette let out a delicious gasp. Smirking, Hope snuck her hand under Josie's shirt and ran her fingers across the expanse of smooth skin, while her mouth moved to the corner of Josie's lips, then along Josie's jawline, pressing wet tongue and impatient lips onto soft skin until she was kissing the junction where Josie's jaw and neck met.

It took no time at all for Hope to find Josie's pulse point. She took the spot between her lips and sucked with ravenous hunger. The small, strangled noise that escaped Josie's mouth turned into the filthiest of moans when she sank her teeth into Josie's skin without warning and Lizzie promptly - and loudly - announced she was leaving to find some bleach for her eyes.

Smirking, Hope flipped Lizzie the bird and ran her tongue across the spot where her teeth had been to soothe it, then immediately pressed another bruising kiss onto the red skin. She pushed herself off Josie and felt immense pride when she saw how flustered her girlfriend was.

"That's gonna leave a mark, you know," Josie was panting. Her eyes were dazed and dilated, her locks were frizzled and messy, her lips were swollen and begging to be ravished again, and Hope wanted nothing more than to pin Josie back down and do just that.

"Oops."

"And you didn't have to be so mean to Lizzie."

Hope shrugged, not feeling particularly sorry.

"That's what she gets for making fun of my height every time."

"You _are_ tiny, barely bigger than an action figure," Josie's breathing was even again and Hope felt a tinge of loss, the memory of those delicious little gasps hot in her mind. But Josie was also grinning at her and there was a sight that never made Hope anything but content. A warm, fuzzing feeling spread over her chest when Josie brushed a strand of auburn hair from her forehead with delicate fingers, then cupped her cheek with warm, gentle palm. "Lucky for you, I quite like tiny people."

"Oh yeah?" Hope closed her eyes, leaning into Josie's touch.

"Oh yeah."

They kissed again. This time, it was slow and gentle.

"I missed you," Josie breathed against her lips, "I missed being able to touch you. Hold you. Kiss you." Another kiss to drive the point home, "I missed you so much."

"Believe me," It was Hope's turn to be breathless now, "I have some idea about that."

Josie chuckled, and their lips met once more.

"Now," Josie's voice was raspy and her eyes glinted darkly. Desire pooled in Hope's stomach. "I believe we have some lost time to make up for."

Fifteen minutes later, Hope was panting and gasping, Josie's lithe body a pleasant weight on top of her. She was just about to work that yellow top off her girlfriend when Josie suddenly pulled back, her eyes wide.

"Hope, your exam!"

It took the auburn-haired girl a moment to register what Josie was saying in her hazed state.

"What?"

"Your history exam!" Josie exclaimed, "Isn't that right now?"

"About that," Hope dithered for a moment, before explaining her momentary lapse of judgment to Josie. When she did, the brunette gave her a less-than-impressed look.

"You _cheated_ on your exam?"

"I didn't cheat!" Hope demurred, "I'm still taking the exam. Just in my own time."

"Yeah, and there's a word for that!" Josie scolded and Hope shifted on the bed, avoiding her girlfriend's gaze. The brunette had a point, not to mention Hope wasn't all too proud of what she did last night herself.

"Yeah, well," She tried to come across as nonchalant, "It's too late now. Besides, the last time I checked, Dorian still hadn't replied, so this might just work itself out."

"Just-" Josie shook her head disapprovingly but otherwise looked resigned, "This isn't right, Hope. You shouldn't have done that, but we can't do anything about it now. See if you've got a reply yet."

Hope figured she was lucky that Josie, who was big on not breaking the rules, wasn't going to scold her any further - not that she wouldn't deserve it - and dug out her phone without protest.

Funny enough, she had missed a notification from Outlook while she and Josie were busy celebrating their reunion. Hope clicked it and an email from Dorian opened up.

_Hi Hope_

_Sorry to hear about your flight. We can certainly arrange a makeup exam for you given the extenuating circumstances. I hope 3pm this Friday is agreeable? If so, simply bring proof of your new flight, and we'll be all good._

_Best_

_Dorian_

And that was when Hope realized a simple truth.

Karma is a bitch.

* * *

To no one's surprise, Josie was the one who sprung into action.

She quickly gathered Hope into her arms and rubbed soothing circles into her panicking girlfriend's back. Once she was sure that Hope wasn't going to have a nervous breakdown, she called Lizzie and Landon, quickly explained the situation, and asked them to meet at the library.

It didn't take them long to find Lizzie at one of the study spaces, locked in some kind of standoff with Landon.

"-you are under arrest, Chancellor."

Landon slowly rose, his voice a low growl.

"Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?"

"The Senate will decide your fate."

"I am the Senate."

"Any man who must say I am the Senate is no true Senate." Hope plopped herself down between them with a roll of her eyes, "Can we cut the nerdfest already and help me unfuck my life?"

"Of course, shortie," Lizzie grinned at her without a shred of sympathy whatsoever. "I do have a moral obligation as a tall person to help those who are not fortunate enough to be blessed with at least five feet of height, giving back to your community and all."

"Hey!" Hope protested indignantly, "I am five feet!"

"Aww, you poor baby," Lizzie patted Hope's head like she was a puppy, "It's okay, there's no need to be ashamed of being short. A lack of height does not always lead to a lack of accomplishment in life, just usually. If you are really struggling to accept your height then we can take you on a trip to the Philippines. I'm sure being surrounded by people as short as you will do wonders for your self-esteem."

"Fuck you, Lizzie."

"No thanks, shortcake. I have a rule against sleeping with dwarves."

"Anyways," Josie loudly interjected, "Now that we've gotten all that immaturity out of our systems," A pointed look at her sister, "We can focus on helping Hope! Any ideas, people?"

Lizzie started painting her nails.

"Well, I may have something," said Landon, drawing a keen look from Hope.

"Go on."

"The problem is that Dorain is onto you, right?" He explained, "If Dorian goes away, so does your predicament."

Hope hummed.

"And how do we go about that?"

"I haven't worked out that part yet," Landon shrugged, "But I'm sure we can take a page or two from the history books. How about we do a Theoderic?"

Hope banged her head on the table in despair.

"I don't follow," Josie was blinking in confusion.

"Theoderic invited his rival to a feast then ran a sword through him," Hope groaned, "Which is not helpful here."

"Maybe not. But the idea behind it, on the other hand-"

"You _cannot_ be serious!"

"I am serious." Landon proclaimed, "Every story of greatness begins with a violent murder. I can take my lance, sneak into his office, and ciao Dorian."

Hope figured there was no point lifting her head from the table.

"Come on, be realistic!"

"I guess you do have a point."

Hope felt a sliver of hope.

"A schemer who does the deed himself is a stupid schemer. Dorian's DA is MG's best friend, right? Well, MG has been badgering me to sell him my Stan Lee autograph forever. I'm sure he'll take a bribe and get Penelope to poison Dorian's coffee. Penelope lives for intrigue, so she'll probably do it for free."

Normally, Hope would be touched that Landon would part with his treasured Stan Lee autograph for her. Now, however, Hope was despairing over the fact that her life was over. So she shot up from her seat and glared daggers, swords, spears, arrows, and lances at Landon.

"You are a bigger disappointment than the Percy Jackson movies you dumb fucking fu-"

"Hey!" Josie cut them off, "Cease with this monomachy at once!"

Hope dropped onto her seat with a grunt.

"Can we brainstorm ideas that _don't_ involve murder now?"

"You peasants are making this way more complicated than it has to be," Lizzie perked up, apparently done with her nails, "I mean, how hard can it be to fake a boarding pass?"

Hope's eyes lit up.

* * *

Hope drummed her thumb against her laptop impatiently. She was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed and her MacBook resting on her lap. She could hear her sheets shuffling as Josie made herself comfortable behind her.

Soon enough, she felt Josie's arm wrapping around her torso and her chest pressing against her back snugly. Josie perched her head on her shoulder, then turned her face slightly and pressed a feather-light kiss to her cheek.

Hope found it mildly distracting.

"What are you doing?" She barely managed to get the words out without choking.

Josie hummed.

"I was thinking," Another kiss on her cheek, "That we have to keep ourselves busy somehow," Josie's breath was hot and her voice was husky and Hope found it more than a little difficult not to fling her laptop across the room and yank Josie down to the covers, "While we wait for the Internet to load."

"Our tuitions dollars hard a-"

Hope gasped when she felt Josie take her earlobe between her lips and pull it hard. She almost whined when Josie released it, only for the brunette to give the lobe a little nip. Josie's hand had snuck under her shirt at some point, and she was drawing circles on the sensitive skin just beneath her rib.

Hope shivered.

Josie pulled away and batted her lashes at her not-so-innocently and whatever self-control Hope had left evaporated. She all but grabbed the back of Josie's head and slammed their lips together. Josie's tongue wiggled its way into her mouth and began exploring, brushing the soft inner linings of her cheeks from top to bottom nimbly and Hope felt like she was weightless and floating and-

-and Josie was abruptly pulling away.

There was no stopping the whimper that left her mouth this time as Hope's eyes shot open, finding Josie grinning at her in a way that was definitely _not_ not evil.

"The website's all loaded up, _babe,_ " Josie's eyes were dark with want and Hope's breath caught in her throat as her girlfriend's raspy voice drawled out the last word tauntingly, as if she was daring her to shove the damn laptop off the bed, pick her up, spin her around, drop her on her lap, and ravish the soft skin of her neck until it was covered in love bites.

Hope's heart was pounding against her cavity, her chest was rising and falling rapidly as she panted and gasped and struggled to suck enough oxygen into her lungs. Blood was rushing to her head so fast that Hope felt dizzy, and she was sure that she'd only tumble if she tried to stand.

It took a few seconds for her head to stop spinning, and once it did, Hope was torn between wanting to release a frustrated groan or a wolf-like growl. In the end, she settled for a huff and decided that would have to wait.

Right now, she had to make sure she didn't get expelled.

The auburn-haired girl made a very conscious effort to avoid looking at her girlfriend's smirking face or dark orbs or kiss-swollen lips or the glaring red mark on her neck or the miles and miles of smooth thighs that those sinfully short shorts-

Hope scowled at herself to get a grip. Judging by the smirk on Josie's face, the brunette knew exactly the kind of thoughts that were running through her head.

She googled boarding pass templates and found one that she could use soon enough. All that was left was to fill in the blanks.

"There," Josie's head was perched on her shoulder once again. One of her hands was pointing at the screen and the other was resting on her thigh, and Hope had trouble deciding whether she should slap it off or push it higher. "Delta has a flight at 8:30 tomorrow morning that hasn't been canceled."

Hope hummed, forcing her mind to focus on the screen in front of her.

"Layover at Atlanta, then a connecting flight to Dulles. This will do."

Ten minutes later, Hope had a pair of very authentic-looking boarding passes ready for print. She shut off her laptop almost giddily, and turned to Josie.

"Now that's over with," Hope ran her tongue across her bottom lip, and imagined it was Josie's, "I believe there's something else we can be doing."

"I believe you're right," Josie grinned, then withdrew her hand from Hope's thigh and swung herself off the bed without warning, "Come on, we have revision to do."

Hope blinked.

"Wait, what?"

Josie had crossed the room and was pulling something out of Hope's backpack.

"You have astronomy Thursday afternoon," The brunette held up a thick textbook, "You need to revise." There was a teasing glint in Josie's eyes, "Why, what did you think I was talking about?"

Hope threw her hands up in exasperation.

"You know what!"

"Oh, hun," Josie smiled at her coyly, "Get your head out of the gutter."

Hope growled, crossing the space between them in three large strides and ripping the astronomy textbook from Josie. She flung the textbook across the room then grabbed Josie's arms and shoved her against the wall with very little care.

Josie didn't seem to mind, not judging by how her eyes rolled back just as a gasp left her mouth.

" _Hun,_ " Hope made quick work of the button and tugged Josie's shorts down as she dropped to her knees, "We both know where you really want my head."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I can't believe I just wrote that. Once again, I guess I'm in too deep now.
> 
> My favorite part to write was Lizzie and Landon being utterly unhelpful, lol.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Please subscribe, leave a kudo and a comment to let me know what you think, your support is what keeps me going!
> 
> Until next time!


	3. penance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Josie celebrate their six-month anniversary.

_Societies' fair ended up being a dud, but Landon was undeterred. Having doubled its membership, medieval swordplay society now had considerably more (though admittedly still meager) resources to wage a publicity drive._

_The idea came from Lizzie, who had usurped Hope's position as vice president within hours of meeting Landon._

_The bubbly blonde decided a collab between medieval swordplay society and prequel memes society was exactly what they both needed to take off. Lizzie suggested she could do a Darth Vader cosplay, and when Hope saw the way Landon's eyes lit up, she knew she was fucked._

_The worst part? Landon adamantly refused to reveal what he had in mind, only telling her to wait and see with a mad glint in his eyes._

_Landon and Lizzie's combined nerdiness absolutely terrified Hope, but she wouldn't have it any other way. Not when she would never have met Josie otherwise._

_She had only known Josie for two weeks and she already couldn't imagine a life without the brunette. Hope knew then that coming to Whitmore was the right decision - how could it not be, when it led her to Josie? Granted, she'd had to endure twice the usual amount of nerdiness in the last two weeks, but it was, as a universe-changing philosopher once said, a small price to pay for salvation._

_Flash forward to yesterday. Hope was hanging out with Josie when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it, and her draw dropped._

_Standing at her door was Landon, clad in full Eastern Roman cataphract armor from head to toe, with a round, tall helmet and a chainmail mask covering his entire face save the eyes, flanked by a beaming Lizzie._

_"Hopey!" The blonde squealed, "Isn't this just wonderful! Wanna help us dress Landon's horse in chain mail too?"_

_Hope felt faint._

_Josie, bless her heart, steadied Hope and agreed for the both of them._

_As it turned out, Landon had even more tricks up his sleeve. They were about done with the poor horse when he showed her a replica of a cavalry lance. It was long and elegant, like the neck of a giraffe, and as Hope held the lance in her hand, she felt a certain... affection for it._

_It was almost eerie._

_Hope caressed the smooth metal surface lovingly and asked Landon if she could borrow it, her eyes never leaving the lance. Landon, distracted by a lively conversation about Russel Crowe and Gladiator 2 with Lizzie, made a hummed noise that Hope felt justified in interpreting as a yes._

_And therein lied her problem._

_She woke up feeling utterly marvelous and went to find Landon with a big grin on her face. The fact that her roommate - whose name she still didn't know - glared at her didn't bother Hope the slightest. They were doing their collab today, and it was going to go so much better than societies' fair. She just knew it._

_And so Hope left her room fantastically chipper and oblivious to the fact that she had forgotten Landon's lance._

_By the time Hope realized it, she was already halfway across campus. Even worse, she had gone in the wrong direction in her extreme euphoria and now found herself at a part of Whitmore's vast grounds that she was utterly unfamiliar with._

_It took her a good half hour just to get herself out of the woods, and another to spot Bennet Hall. By the time she had run all the way up the stairs - because it was just her luck that the maintenance crew chose that day to service the elevator - she was panting heavily._

_Hope. Clown. Mikaelson._

_When Hope had caught her breath again, she did a doubletake at the sight that greeted her._

_Standing outside her door was Josie._

_Sweet, innocent, wouldn't-hurt-a-fly Josie, holding a torch - an actual, fucking, flaming, fire torch made of rolled-up newspaper with one hand, and with the other, reaching for what looked like a canister of gasoline._

_Hope blinked. Hard._

_The image in front of her failed to change, so she blinked again. When she came to the inescapable conclusion that she wasn't hallucinating, Hope said the first thing came to her mind._

_"What the fuck?"_

_Josie jumped, almost dropping her torch._

_"Hope!" She yelped, her eyes darting around them wildly, "I umm- I didn't think you'd be here."_

_"Why wouldn't I be here?" Hope was incredulous, "This is my room, I- What are you doing with a torch, Jo? And the fucking gasoline? Are you- Were you going to burn my room down?"_

_"No! Of course not!" Exclaimed the girl with the flaming torch and the gasoline-filled canister. "That would be-" Josie chuckled nervously, her hand reaching for her hair on instinct. She almost jumped when she realized the said hand was still holding a burning torch and quickly put it out. "That would be ridiculous! Why would I do such a thing, haha?"_

_Hope shot a pointed glance at the gasoline. Then at the torch, which Josie promptly flung over her shoulder with a jerky movement and a jittery smile._

_Yeah, right._

_"Josie-" Hope tried to wrap her head around the positions they found themselves in. Josie was a sweetheart, and they had become close friends over the last two weeks. It made no sense to Hope, and yet, there was no other explanation. "Were you trying to... kill me?"_

_The words came out more confused than angry._

_"What-" Shock washed over Josie's face, "Hope, no! You are my best friend! I would never hurt you."_

_Josie all but shouted, her eyes wide and her voice frantic. Hope wasn't sure if it was the panicky edge in Josie's voice or how instantaneously her expression distorted in astonishment. Either way, she believed her._

_But that still left her question unanswered, and Hope could not for the life of her figure out the answer._

_"Well, what then?" It had been a pretty shit morning for Hope, getting up on the right side of the bed for the first time ever notwithstanding. She felt like an absolute idiot for wandering so far into the woods, and after scurrying around like a fucking rat for a whole hour frantically trying to figure out how to get back to her building, she was hot, sweaty, tired, and more than a little mad. Coupled with the sheer bizarreness of finding Josie about to burn her room down, it shouldn't have surprised Hope that incredulity and frustration got the better of her, and her voice started rising. "Tell me. What then? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you were about to set my room on fire."_

_Hope hadn't meant to sound so contentious. She had meant to keep accusation from her voice, but her grip on her emotions was rather tenuous in her agitated state, and Josie flinched as if Hope had physically struck her. Guilt roiled in her stomach, twisting it into tights knots and crawling up her chest until it was in her windpipe and her throat suddenly felt tight, too tight for air to pass through._

_Hope swallowed and steeled herself. No, as bad as she felt for upsetting Josie, the brunette had shown up at her door with a fucking torch and enough gasoline to raze a castle. She had the right to know why._

_Josie looked torn. She bit down her bottom lip in a way that Hope found maddeningly adorable even now. Her eyes, a warm glow of brown as always, darted between Hope and the empty corridor behind her rapidly, like she was struggling to decide between making a run for it and letting the truth leap from her tongue._

_"I have a crush on you."_

_The words ended up tumbling out of Josie's mouth, and whatever Hope was expecting, it wasn't that._

_The auburn-haired girl stared at the brunette across her blankly. A few long second passes before speech returned to her._

_"What?" She said dumbly._

_"I have a crush on you," Josie repeated, clearly nervous. Her arms were dangling on either side of her awkwardly, and she clasped her fidgeting hands together after several failed attempts at keeping them still. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to bolt, but at the same time resigned to the fact that Hope was owed an explanation and determined to give it. "I slipped a note under your door this morning - I guess you must have left already. Then- I don't know, I just immediately regretted it. I tried to pick your lock with a hairpin - Lizzie showed me how to do it a few weeks ago, but I couldn't get it to work. So I- well, you know."_

_"So you thought you'd burn down my room along with the whole building and everyone in it just so I wouldn't see a stupid note?"_

_Josie squirmed._

_"Well, yeah- It sounds bad when you put it that way- not that it's not! I mean-" Josie was rambling, "It's bad, I know it's bad. I'm not sure what I was thinkin- actually, I wasn't thinking at all. I panicked. Oh God, I'm so sorry, Hope, I didn't mean to- I mean-"_

_"Josie." Hope couldn't help but chuckle. A nervous Josie was a cute Josie. Who'd have thought? "Stop. You're rambling."_

_Josie blinked, her bearings returning to her a second later._

_"Right, you don't ever wanna see me again- I mean, of course you don't. Why would you? I was about to set your room on fire and you probably hate me now- no, you definitely hate me now and I should just go-"_

_Josie caught herself. A red flush adorned her cheeks and Hope once again marveled the fact that she had the power to make this beautiful, brilliant, and all-around extraordinary girl in front of her nervous._

_It gave her an untold amount of pride._

_"I don't hate you, Jo. I want you to stay," Hope gave Josie a soft smile, "and just so that you know, I could never hate you."_

_Josie's eyes were big and brown and full of surprise._

_"You don't?" She said, disbelief laced with a tentative hint of hope._

_"I don't." With a feather-light touch, Hope placed a hand on Josie's arm and pulled her in. Bare skin was soft and smooth under her touch and Hope felt Josie's goosebumps rising when she began rubbing her thumb in a circular motion. Blue found brown and Hope realized just how close they were. Their chests were almost pressed together, their noses parted by mere inches, and Hope could just about to feel Josie's warm breath tingling her cheek. Josie had gone pliant under her touch, and Hope's eyes began drifting lower and lower, past her the bridge of her nose and the soft curve of the tip, finding those pink lips almost involuntarily._

_Hope tugged Josie even closer. Josie's breath hitched with an audible gasp and Hope leaned in, tilting her head to the side slightly so her nose wouldn't bump into Josie's. In the corner of her eyes, she saw Josie's eyelids shuttering in anticipation._

_Then she pulled away from Josie as abruptly as she had pulled her in._

_A small whine left the brunette's mouth and Hope smirked, "Eager, aren't we?"_

_Josie blushed and ducked her head, hiding her face behind a sheet of brown curls but Hope wouldn't have it. She pressed a hand against Josie's cheek gently but firmly, and tilted her head back up until they were facing each other once again._

_"I think it's adorable that you wrote me a note," Hope's voice came out as a whisper, "That was very brave of you, to put yourself out there and let yourself be vulnerable. Granted, you panicked a little after the fact," the corners of Josie's lips twisted up and seeing Josie's smile - even better, being the reason behind Josie's smile, made Hope feel warm in her chest, "but it was brave nevertheless."_

_"However," Hope's tone took a sharp turn and the smile fell right off Josie's face, "you still tried to burn my room down. And you would probably have succeeded had I not come back. I can't just pretend that didn't happen."_

_Josie nodded, crestfallen._

_"Then again," Hope was trying very hard to suppress the grin that was pushing at the corners of her mouth, "Since you had such pure intentions, and seeing as no actual harm was done, I suppose I could forgive you." Josie's eyes lit up with hope, "On one condition."_

_"Anything," She breathed._

_"Go out with me this Friday."_

_Josie seemed taken aback. When Hope's words finally registered, the biggest smile she had ever seen broke across her face._

_"Yes!" The brunette exclaimed happily, "Yes, of course I'll go out with you, Hope!"_

_Then, Josie did something neither of them was expecting. She pulled Hope in by the neck and crushed their lips together. Hope was too shocked to respond, and by the time her brain registered what was happening, Josie had already pulled away._

_"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Hope." Josie's eyes were wide and her tone frantic. She seemed mortified and Hope found that more than a little endearing. "You didn't say you wanted to kiss me- I mean, you only asked me to go out with you. God, I've ruined everything, haven't I? I'm sorry, it's just that you are smart and gorgeous and I've been crushing on you since we met and-"_

_"Josie." Hope was beaming, "Shut up and kiss me again."_

_The brunette smiled and leaned in. Josie kissed her more deliberately this time, her movements slow and gentle but insistent. Hope had imagined what Josie's lips would feel like many times - how could she not, when they looked so exquisite? Hope always thought they would be soft, and she was right._

_Josie's lips were like marshmallows - soft, delicate, and sweet, and Hope couldn't get enough of them. So she snuck her arm around the small of Josie's back and pulled her in closer, and Josie came willingly. Josie held her cheek like it was the most precious thing in the world with one hand, and with the other, caressed her auburn tresses._

_Josie's touch felt pleasant, and Hope was about to break the kiss to voice that aloud when she felt a tongue swiping at her bottom lip teasingly. Hope let out a small moan, inadvertently allowing Josie to slip her tongue into her mouth. The auburn-haired girl reciprocated eagerly, and their tongues tangled until Josie suddenly broke the kiss and shoved Hope against the door._

_Hope gasped, surprised by Josie's boldness but certainly not complaining as the brunette latched her mouth to her neck and started pressing damp, open-mouthed kisses along the column of skin. It wasn't long before Josie's nimble lips were pulling at a particularly tender spot right above the junction between her neck and shoulder and-_

-and Hope's eyes fluttered open, a moan making its way out of her mouth. Josie released the sweet spot with a pop and looked up to her, grinning.

"Were you having a nice dream?"

It took Hope a few seconds to even her breathing.

"It was alright."

"Huh." Josie tantalizingly dragged out the vowel, a teasing glint in her brown eyes, "You'd think it was better than just alright with the way you were moaning my name."

Hope blushed.

"Oh, and I think I just gave you a hickey, babe," Josie pecked her lips and got off the bed, already dressed in a white blouse and a pair of jeans, "On top of the ones from last night, that is."

Josie ducked into the bathroom with her hairbrush and that gave Hope the chance to gain her bearings. Memories of what transpired the night before rushed to Hope's mind and the auburn-haired girl blushed even harder.

They hadn't done a lot of revision last night.

Art history and astrology were in two days and Hope figured she'd have to cram in some last-minute exam prep. Tomorrow, though, because today was their anniversary, and there was no way in hell she would let those pesky finals interfere with that.

Hope took a minute to let in sink in. In truth, it still didn't feel real that she was dating someone as beautiful, smart, and kind as Josie, much less for half a year already. Sometimes Hope would stretch her eyes open and simply stare at Josie because she was afraid that the brunette might disappear if she blinked.

Josie re-emerged from the bathroom then, her curls pulled into a ponytail. She made her way back to the bed where Hope still laid and leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.

A pleasant scent of fresh mint invaded Hope's nostrils.

"I have to head to the lab now," Josie pulled away with a slight pout, "But I'll see you when I'm done."

"Of course," Hope nodded.

Josie smiled and swiped an apple from Hope's nightstand, then she was gone with a wave.

* * *

It took Hope another fifteen minutes to force herself out of bed.

She dragged her rather sore legs into the bathroom and quickly got ready for the day. Her old room was closer to central campus, but Hope much preferred her new room in Salvatore Hall. It was a nice en suite with plenty of space, modern refurbishing, and good lightning. Her favorite thing about the new room? It was a single - in other words, Josie could come over whenever she wanted.

They had to make do with public spaces and the twins' room for much of the Fall Semester - Hope's roommate (Teagan? Titania? Tanya?) glared daggers at Josie every time she was over until the two of them decided they should avoid hanging out in Hope's room from that point on.

Whitmore's campus was abundant in space and easy on the eye, but rather chilly as winter approached, while they could only banish Lizzie to Landon's room so many times. Luckily - or maybe not - Hope's roommate decided to build some kind of extracurricular physics project in their room, and knocked out the power in half of Whitmore's buildings when she turned the machine on, starting an electrical fire in the process.

After that little incident, the accommodation office promptly found Hope a room due to be vacated by an exchange student for Winter Semester. The last Hope heard, her roommate had moved back home to Long Island.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Hope threw on a T-shirt, zipped up her skirt, and left her room.

An hour later, Hope emerged from a spot obscured by trees and bushes by the lake and made for the science building. On her way there, she passed by one of the more secluded accommodation buildings - known for its iconic (or infamous) architecture and proximity to the site of the alleged werewolf sighting. Hope sniffed and, to absolutely no one's surprise, smelled weed in the air.

The door opened and a familiar face popped out.

Wearing a Whitmore student ambassador T-shirt, with a confident smile on her face and blonde hair woven into elegant braids was Lizzie Saltzman. She was armed with a blue clipboard and a white plastic pen with a Whitmore logo print that you could get from the campus shop for a dollar, shepherding half a dozen young faces out of Lockwood Hall.

"Sure, Tricky Dick did some crooked stuff," Lizzie blabbered away to an audience whose reaction ranged from intrigued to bewildered to outright terrified. She had her back to Hope and was caught up in one of her passionate conspiracy theory rants, and the auburn-haired girl found the opportunity too tempting to pass up. Carefully silencing her steps, Hope slowly snuck up on Lizzie. "But consider this. LBJ had his mafia friends assassinate his predecessor so he would become President. I think that's slightly worse t-"

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Hope bellowed with all her might, and Lizzie jumped- flew into the air, dropping her clipboard and pen with a loud squeal.

Hope doubled over laughing.

When Lizzie realized what had happened, her face was red and she was furious.

"What the fuck, shortbread?"

"You should've seen your face!" Hope was laughing so hard that she was struggling to catch her breath, "All those inches didn't do your heightist ass any good."

Lizzie glared at her, "I'm in the middle of a tour here, jerk."

"And I was in the middle of a play six weeks ago," Hope shot back, "Didn't stop you from starting clapping out of nowhere so hard that I broke character and forgot all my lines, did you?"

"That's not the same, you dumb dwarf! It's a dick move to sneak up on people."

"So was ruining my Julius Caesar play, you cyclops cunt!"

It took Hope another minute to stop laughing. When she did, she found Lizzie looking at her with a dead-serious expression.

"I'm gonna give you a five-second headstart, Gimli," Lizzie said without a hint of humor in her voice. "Then, I'm gonna put some dirt in your eye."

Hope almost started laughing again, "Yeah, right."

"One."

Lizzie began.

"Two."

Hope sobered up, suddenly more than a little afraid.

"Three."

Hope gulped.

"Four."

Hope turned and bolted.

It took Hope a good ten minutes to shake a murderous Lizzie off her tail. When she caught her breath, she realized that she was going to be late to meet Josie. Cursing her own stupidity, Hope took off running again.

Another ten minutes later, Hope found herself waiting for Josie outside one of the science labs. She was panting and sweaty, but on time. Hope smoothed out her hair and tried her best to stretch the wrinkles out of her T-shirt.

The door swung open and half a dozen people piled out of the lab, but no Josie. Hope peeked inside the room and found her girlfriend in the middle of a conversation with Meredith Fell.

Meredith was wearing a long-sleeved blue-grey blouse with an elegant bowtie at the collar. Her brown hair was twisted and weaved into a knob held together by a pencil, and her black slacks were accompanied by a matching pair of heeled boots so that she was almost a full head taller than Josie.

Her brown eyes were astute and intelligent, and though she gave off a friendly aura, Hope had no doubt that she made a terrifying figure when she wanted.

It wasn't hard to see why Josie admired this woman so much.

"I read your report last night," Meredith said, "It was impressive. No less than what I expect from you."

Josie had her bag slung over a shoulder. Her curls cascaded down her shoulders freely, and the black elastic band that once held them up now rested on her wrist.

She nodded keenly.

"Thank you," She said, "I spent a lot of time on it."

"That's what I like about you," Meredith remarked, "You work harder than everyone else even when you are already ahead of them."

"Well," Josie was a little bashful at the compliment, but self-assured all the same, "My mom always says that's how you stay ahead."

"A wise woman," Meredith gave her a meaningful look, "Are you familiar with the Norfolk conservatory project?"

"Conservation groups have been campaigning for almost a decade," Josie nodded, "I heard the state is considering whether to create a marine protected area off the coast."

"They are," said Meredith, "and they've commissioned me to study the area and produce a report. It'll take the better part of the summer and I'll be needing an assistant." She paused, "I'd like it to be you."

Josie was taken aback, flabbergasted. Her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of the sockets, her jaw was slack and her mouth was hanging open, forming an O shape, and it took her a few moments for her dazed expression to wear off. When it did, she was wearing a big smile.

"Thank you!" Josie exclaimed happily, looking like she was seconds away from flinging her arms around Meredith. Hope felt pride surging in her chest for this incredible girl she was lucky enough to have in her life.

Meredith returned a warm smile and Josie thanked her again. A few seconds later, the door swung open once more and Josie emerged with a wide grin on her face.

"Hey, babe!" Josie's voice was vibrating with excitement and Hope almost chuckled.

"Hey, hotshot," She leaned in and pressed a kiss to Josie's soft cheek, "Congratulations."

Josie squealed.

"This is amazing! To work on a project with one of the best minds in the field- I can't wait to get started!"

"I can tell," Hope did chuckle this time, "You ready for our brunch date?"

"Totally." Josie beamed, "Are we headed into town?"

"Actually, I thought we could stay in."

Josie scrunched her eyebrows together, "We are having... brunch in bed?"

Hope offered her a cryptic smile, "Not exactly."

The auburn-haired girl slipped her hand into Josie's and led her out of the science building. They walked around the lawn and strolled past a roll of accommodation buildings.

One of the doors flipped open and MG burst out of it, running frantically. Not a second later, the door opened again and out came an incensed Penelope in a grey T-shirt, pajama bottoms, and a pair of slippers, with frizzled hair and furious eyes, still holding her toothbrush.

"Give me back my chicken nuggets you dipshit!"

"They are my chicken nuggets now!"

"Milton!" Penelope screamed, "I will fry your balls into nuggets and feed them to the fucking werewolf!"

MG, still running, turned around halfway and dangled a chicken nugget at Penelope, then took a deliberately large bite out of it and smirked. "Not if you can't catch me!"

"No!" Penelope cried in anguish, "Chicken nugget! I will avenge you!"

Hope and Josie looked at each other and laughed.

"Hey, babe," Josie prodded her with a nudge of her shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Would you let me have your chicken nuggets?"

Hope gave Josie an amused look, "You don't even eat chicken nuggets."

Josie pouted.

"I know, babe," Josie ran a hand through Hope's hair, and the auburn-haired girl felt a tingling sensation creeping up her neck. It was pleasant, like everything-Josie. "But say that I did, would you let me have all your chicken nuggets?"

"Of course, babe," Hope smiled at Josie like the lovesick idiot she was, "I'd give you all my chicken nuggets. I'd even hire a kitchen full of cooks and have them make you chicken nuggets whenever you want because I love you."

Josie laughed, "You are such a little cheeseball."

Hope was mildly insulted by the jab at her height, but then Josie kissed her and she walked the rest of the way with a bounce in her steps. It wasn't long before they arrive at Hope's spot by the lake, the auburn-haired girl parting the bush so Josie could get through. She let out a joyful sound when she saw what awaited them.

"We are having a picnic?"

"Not just a picnic," Hope removed the napkins folded over the basket, "We are having a taste of New Orleans. These are beignets," She held one out for Josie, "Try it."

Josie took a tentative bite into the pastry. "This is delicious," She hummed approvingly and took another bite, drawing a grin from Hope, "and still warm." Josie's surprise was evident, "How did you do this? New Orleans is halfway across the country."

Hope had gotten Sophie, the bakery owner, to lend her one of her bakers for the day after much pleading and a fat check for the shop. She was pretty proud of herself for pulling it off, and she could tell Josie as much, but Hope always found something immensely satisfying about having an air of mysteriousness around herself, so she gave Josie a cryptic "a Mikaelson has her ways" instead.

"I've got to visit New Orleans sometime if the food there is this good," Josie remarked, still munching on her beignet.

"How about this summer?" Hope asked. Nervous butterflies were dancing in her stomach and Hope forced her fidgety hands to stay still, feeling an urge to avert her eyes from Josie.

Josie made a choked sound. She turned to Hope with big eyes filled with surprise, "You want me to come to New Orleans with you this summer?"

Hope fought to keep her nervousness from her reply, "Very much so."

"This summer-this summer?"

Hope chuckled, "Yes, Jo. I'd love to show you the place I grew up and introduce you to my family this summer-this summer. What do you say?"

A big smile broke out across Josie's face, "Hope, I'd love to." Her smile turned teasing then, "How could I turn down the chance to see your embarrassing baby pictures?"

"Oh no, I take it back!" Hope exclaimed with mock horror, throwing her hands over her chest in an exaggerated motion, "You are not seeing any baby pictures!"

"Too late, babe." Josie grinned and Hope burst into laughter. Josie was still munching on her beignet and the auburn-haired girl grabbed one for herself. The beignet was crispy and sweet, just how she remembered it. Her mood took a sudden, melancholic, turn.

"I was really sad when Roman moved back to France three years ago," Hope began, memories of that day rushing to her mind. Roman was sweet and charming and wrote her cheesy love songs with this old guitar his sister gave him on his twelfth birthday, and Hope was a starry-eyed fifteen-year-old who read John Green and David Levithan and Cassandra Claire obsessively, filled with silly dreams of going on an adventure and finding her epic love like Margo and Q, Rhiannon and A, Clary and Jace.

When they met, Hope felt for him hard.

And when Roman left, he took a piece of her heart with him.

"My dad could see how upset I was, and he wanted to cheer me up. When I came down for breakfast the next morning, the dining table was covered in beignets, piling up so high that they almost touched the ceiling." Hope smiled. After her parents died, thinking about them brought her nothing but sorrow. Now, she was just grateful that they had so many good times together, that she had so many memories to cherish. "He bought pretty much every beignet in the French Quarter just to make me smile."

A warm hand took ahold of her wrist gently. Hope looked up and found a pair of brown eyes looking at her with such tenderness that she couldn't help but give a small smile. Josie's thumb rubbed circles around her pulse softly and a wave of serenity washed over Hope.

Josie's voice was as soft as her touch, Hope's was as bittersweet as she felt.

"It sounds like he was a good dad."

"The best." Her eyes glazed over, lost in thought, "I wish he met you. He'd have loved you."

"I'm honored you think that, and I know he would be proud of how you've managed your grief and built a life for yourself here."

Hope thought that Josie must have some kind of magic because she always knew exactly how to make her feel better. The tightness in her chest dissipated at the sound of Josie's soft voice and Hope took a deep breath, pulling herself out of memory lane, out of the compound filled with laughter, and back to the present, where she sat cross-legged facing Josie by the lake, on their six-month anniversary.

"Better finish them while they are still warm," Hope smiled at Josie, assuring her that she was alright, and went for another beignet, "I have quite the afternoon planned out for us."

* * *

"I love this!" Josie yelled over the loud whirring of the helicopter blades.

Hope grinned, "Told you!"

They headed into D.C. after brunch. Normally, they'd catch the hourly bus from Whitmore, but it was their anniversary and Hope wanted to make everything special for Josie, so she had her car shipped up from New Orleans.

It'd cost her a small fortune, but Josie's expression when she saw the car made it worth it.

"This is your car?" The brunette had said with no small amount of wonder in her voice.

Hope chuckled then, "A present from my uncle Elijah for my 18th birthday."

Josie ran her tongue across her bottom lip, and Hope could see drool pooling at the corner of her mouth, "A Continental GT? Looks like a V8 Convertible- no, a W12. Customized sequin blue paint with polished wheels and a panoramic sunroof." Josie caressed the hood, her breath caught in her throat, her tone one of unadulterated adoration, "This is one beautiful Bentley."

"Not gonna leave me for my car, are you?" Hope joked.

Josie gave a noncommittal hum.

"Can I drive?"

"Not a chance."

"Please babe," Josie looked at Hope with big puppy eyes, "I promise I'll be careful."

"Nope. I'm the only one who drives my baby," Hope shook her head, "Besides, you don't even know where we are going. What are you gonna do, drive us to Mar-a-Lago and have us play golf all day with Don Jr. and Eric?"

Josie pouted, "You can just tell me where we're going! Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Uh-uh." Hope shook her head again, "It's a surprise."

Josie pouted harder, but Hope was resolved not to give in.

"You can pout all you want babe, it's not happening," The auburn-haired girl walked around Josie and slid into the driver's seat. Can't be swayed by that pout if you can't see that pout. "Now get in the car. We don't wanna be late."

Josie huffed and got in the passenger seat. Two hours later, they were 10,000 feet up in the sky, circling around the outskirts of Washington D.C.

"That was amazing!" Josie turned to Hope, smiling happily, "Thank you, babe. This is the best present ever."

"Oh, we're just getting to the best part," Hope grinned at Josie's surprised face, "What, you didn't think I'd have a few more tricks up my sleeve? I thought you'd know by now." She turned to the pilot, "Let's touch down."

The helicopter landed soon after and Hope led them back to the car.

"We're driving?"

"Let's just say that where we're going doesn't exact allow choppers to land in the yarn," She said coyly and held the passenger door open for Josie. "Shall we?"

Traffic was scant and it wasn't long before they made it into D.C. proper. Hope broke from the main road at some point and took them into a neighborhood so quiet that one could easily mistake it for the Northern Virginia suburbs. They came to a stop in front of a quaint cafe with a faded wooden door guarded by a pair of busts - one of George Washington with a typically solemn expression, and another of a sanctimonious Thomas Jefferson.

A youthful-looking man was waiting outside the cafe. Hope rolled down the window and the man's face lit up when he saw her. Hope introduced him as Josh, one of her late uncle Elijah's many proteges.

Josh was dressed impeccably, with a dark blue suit, a silk silver tie, and a white shirt without a single wrinkle. The heels of his polished leather shoes made crisp, clicking sounds against the ground, and he had a stuffed brown briefcase tucked under his arm. Josie thought he looked the archetypical government worker from your Sunday political drama - charming and canny, but also well-versed in the minutiae of policy, slugging through the vast federal bureaucracy. The way he carried himself spoke of confidence and self-assuredness, though he exuded warmth and greeted Josie with a friendly smile.

When Josie asked where they were going, Hope's eyes glinted in a way that said I-know-something-that-you-don't.

"You'll see," Josh offered, and Hope revved up the engine once more. "Man, I always did love this car."

"Oh, I know," Hope grinned into the rearview mirror, "I might just let you take her for a ride sometime with the favor you're doing us."

"Really?" Josh's eyes were shining like gold, "Yes!" He pumped his fist into the air, "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

That only served to pique Josie's curiosity further. After all, Hope had adamantly refused to let her drive on their way from Whitmore. Just what had Josh done to make Hope agree to part with her beloved Bentley?

They readily struck up a conversation as Hope drove on. Josh, as it turned out, had a good grasp of environmental policy and shared a few details of the ongoing negotiations with Canada for a new cross-border conservation protocol with a fascinated Josie, lapping it up eagerly.

"The Norfolk project, of course," Josh said when Josie mentioned her upcoming internship with Meredith, "I hear some people on the Hill are paying close attention to that. Federal funding might even be forthcoming if it goes well, though I wouldn't hold my breath. Plenty of things that ought to make it out of Congress never do."

Surprise surged in Josie's chest, "How do you know about that?"

"Everybody in Washington knows a Congressperson or two," Josh winked at her conspiratorially, "Plus, I'm engaged to one."

"We're here," Hope announced.

Josie blinked. She was so engrossed in her conversation with Josh that she hadn't even noticed when they'd stopped moving. When she looked outside the window, her draw dropped.

"Is that-"

"Oh yeah," said Josh nonchalantly, "Did I mention that I work at the White House?"

Josie tried to say something, but the words simply wouldn't form. Her mouth opened and closed and opened again, and she found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the iconic building.

"It's something, isn't it?" Josie nodded, speechless, and Josh laughed at her dumbstruck expression, "I take this is your first time? Come on, the White House awaits."

Josh flashed his credentials and the guard issued her and Hope lanyards to go with their visitor passes. The front lawn of the White House was teeming with Secret Service agents armed with their submachine guns, bulletproof vests, and shades. Josie looked up and yes, there really were snipers on the roof, with their conspicuous rifles and binoculars.

"We had a little security incident last year," Josh explained, "The Secret Service went into overdrive after that and I've got to say, you'll have an easier time getting into the Death Star than past security now."

Josie remembered the attack - how could she not? A profanity-laced audio recording of the President mocking the LA Lakers was published by an Atlantic reporter. The President had suggested that the Lakers should be renamed the Manures - except he didn't say manures - and that the Eisenhower Executive Building be renamed the Larry Bird Executive Building.

A few weeks later, an angry Lakers fan fired a rocket into the White House front lawn.

Josie had stared at her phone, dumbstruck, as a video from the President's twitter account showed him shooting at a Lakers logo at the gun range, while Van Jones and Rick Santorum sparred over its implications on a CNN panel.

The public wasn't too impressed, though the President's approvals in Massachusetts surged by twenty points overnight.

"The White House is actually three buildings," said Josh matter-of-factly, "We just came in through the East Wing, which is the haunt of the First Lady's staff. There's also the West Wing, where the Oval Office is, and the Residence, where the President gets in a ring with Senator Cruz every night in his dreams."

Josie laughed at that.

"There are three state parlors on the ground floor of the Residence," Josh led them through the spacious interior, "Fun fact, there are 35 bathrooms alone in the Residence, along with 412 doors and 147 windows - all bulletproof, of course." Josh gave her a somber look, "Harry Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb by one of the 28 fireplaces in this building. And we'll never know what may or may not have transpired here that pulled the world back from the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis."

"A lot of history took place where we are standing right now," Hope commented.

"Never ceases to awe me," Josh nodded. "The world was shaped by decisions that were made in this building."

"Do you ever just stop and take in all in?" Josie asked.

"Every now and then," He replied, "Come on, the Blue Room is just to our left."

They turned and followed Josh into the oval-shaped room with its iconic royal blue curtains and gold-dotted carpet.

"This is where receptions are usually held," Josh supplied, "It has undergone many renovations and restorations over the years."

"This room has been decorated in blue since the White House was rebuilt after the War of 1812, hasn't it?" Hope asked, taking everything in with quiet reverence in her eyes.

"It has," Josh confirmed.

"And Grover Cleveland got married in this room, didn't he?"

"He did," Josh affirmed once again, "Eighteen weddings are recorded to have taken place in the White House over the past two centuries, usually those of the President's family or staff. John Quincy Adams, for one, got married here in the Blue Room just like Grover Cleveland. So did FDR's right-hand man Harry Hopkins."

"I hear a happy couple will soon be joining that list," A jovial voice came from the door. Josh spun around, an eyebrow raised in surprise.

"Mister President."

Josie gaped. She stood and stared, speechless, with her jaw hanging with open and her eyes ready to pop out of their sockets. She blinked several times, and tried to say something - it's nice to meet you, perhaps - but nothing came out. Her arms hang on either side of her body loosely. Her hands were fidgety, so she clenched then unclenched them. Then she decided she might as well shove them in her pockets, except that was probably a disrespectful thing to do, so she pulled her hands back halfway and pressed her palms to her thighs rather awkwardly.

"You guys must be Josh's friends," The President remarked, and that snapped Josie out of her trance.

"President Whitmore!" She gushed and all but ran to him, gripping his hand and shaking it fervently, "This is truly an honor, sir. I'm a big fan. I think you are doing a terrific job."

President Whitmore chuckled in a self-deprecating way, "Well, that makes you the only person in the country who thinks that other than my wife and daughter ."

"You are a war hero, sir," Josie shook her head adamantly, "People loved you once, they will again. They just need to remember that you're trying to do the right thing."

"Unfortunately, trying to do the right thing has limits, especially in this town," President Whitmore's tone took a somber turn, his lips pressing together tightly. "I doubt people will change their minds about me unless I fight off an alien invasion."

That drew a small laugh from Josie, "Let's hope it doesn't come to that," She said, "Would hate to have to nuke Houston. Regardless, you are only a year and a half into your term in office, sir, and there's plenty of time for you to turn things around. The education bill that just came out of committee would be a good place to start."

President Whitmore hummed, "You are very well-read on current affairs."

"I was born and raised in Virginia, sir," came Josie's reply, "We haven't had an election that wasn't a nailbiter in the last twenty years. One of my earliest memories was attending a rally with my parents during the Senate race in 2014."

"Sorry to interrupt, Mister President," An aide dressed in a grey blazer and matching slacks barged into the room, "You have a call with President Fassbender of Ireland to discuss his upcoming state visit."

"Of course," President Whitmore thanked his aide and looked at Josie apologetically, "Duty calls, I'm afraid. Enjoy the rest of your tour," He made to leave but caught himself a second later, and turned back around, "I don't think I got your name."

"It's Josie, Mister President."

"Josie. You are a bright young woman," President Whitmore nodded, "You know, we have internships every summer, not just here at the White House, but with other federal departments and agencies as well. I would encourage you to apply. I'm sure Josh can direct you to the right people."

Josie was so shocked she almost tripped. Blood rushed to her ears and she swayed on her feet, suddenly feeling very lightheaded.

"I'm honored, sir," She managed.

"Midterms are coming up soon," President Whitmore waved in lieu of a goodbye, "Go vote!"

"Look at you. Two offers in a day?" Hope grinned at her, "Next thing we know, you'll be the President."

"That sounds just about the worse job in the world," Josie made a face, "An ambassadorship, on the other hand..."

"That's enough excitement for one day," Josh interjected, "Come on now, let's finish this tour."

* * *

The next two days were a blur.

Hope grabbed Landon for an intense, last-minute cramming session on Wednesday. By the end of it, her eyes were sore and her throat was dry, but she was confident about her finals.

Thursday came and went, and with it, her art history and astronomy exams. Hope knew her art history course like the back of her hand and knew the second she handed her paper in that she had aced it. Astronomy was a stiffer challenge, but Hope felt she that she had done reasonably well nonetheless.

Then came Friday - Judgment Day, as Lizzie had mockingly taken to calling it. Judgement Day didn't begin with a T-1000 attempting to murder her, or nuclear missiles going off like fireworks. It did, however, begin with Hope missing her alarm and sleeping in until it was only ten minutes before her film studies exam.

Hope threw on the first T-shirt she saw hastily and swapped her pajama bottom for a pair of shorts. She sprinted out of Salvatore Hall and made it to the exam hall just as the professor was about to shut the door.

Professor Gilbert told her to sit down with an amused glint in his eyes, and Hope did so a little sheepishly.

The close call notwithstanding, Hope wrote her essay with little difficulty and even had enough time to proofread it several times. She exited the exam hall feeling her GPA had been saved, and met Josie for lunch.

Lunch alternated between Hope playing with Josie's hair, Josie stealing the lettuces from her salad, and the two of them sneaking in kisses here and there. A few minutes before three, Hope bid Josie goodbye and headed to her history makeup final armed with her fake boarding passes.

Dorian was waiting for her when she came in. Her history professor looked up from the essays he was marking and greeted Hope with a friendly smile.

"Hi, Hope."

_So far so good._

"Hi, Dorian," Hope greeted back and handed Dorian her fake boarding passes, "Here's the proof of flight you asked for."

"Excellent," Dorian took the papers and set them on his desk without questions.

Hope let out a sigh of relief.

"You have two hours to write three essays, forty minutes each," Dorian directed her to a desk stacked with sheets, "You may choose any three essay questions from the list provided, and there are more writing booklets on my desk if you need them. You may leave the examination room whenever you're finished."

Hope nodded and sat down. She quickly jotted down her name and student ID number on the cover sheet and flipped to the next page to read the essay questions.

Identify and analyze the impact of territorial expansion on the social, political, and cultural fabrics of the Roman Republic.

_Sounds easy enough._

The Roman military intervention in, and conquest of, Greece was a naked expression of imperialism. Discuss.

_I can do that._

Do you agree with the statement that the assassination of Julius Caesar made certain, if not hastened, the downfall of the Roman Republic?

_Definitely no problem._

In what ways did Augustus preserve and undermine the institutions of-

"All good?"

Hope looked at Dorian and nodded again.

"Great," He replied and gathered his papers, "While you take the exam, I'll go ahead and give the airline a call to make sure you were on the flights."

Oh shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Michael Fassbender is the President of Ireland in this universe. Just assume that people have finally had it with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and elected an outsider as the ceremonial head of state as a middle finger to the old boys.
> 
> And yes, we have President Whitmore from Independence Day as President here. (We will not go quietly into the night!) I considered bringing good ol' Abe back from the dead at one point (I'm more than a little in love with the Lincoln Project) as well as Beth from Madam Secretary, but I was sure how many of you guys would know Beth, while resurrecting somebody who's been dead for a century and a half would be really out there even for a crack.
> 
> Timeline-wise, this story is set circa 2030 so Josie would be four, five-ish in 2014, where Virginia featured the closest Senate race of the cycle.
> 
> As for the Lakers joke - what can I say, I'm a Celtics fan.
> 
> Thank you guys so much for reading. I'm blessed to have you guys' support and I'd love it if you could subscribe, leave a kudo, and comment to let me know what you think. Until next time!


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